Throughout this self-care series we have talked a lot about the importance of self care and looking after your health and wellbeing, especially during extreme and uncertain times.
As we know self-care is taking a moment to focus on you, and doing activities to help your mind rest and relieve some anxiety or anger you might be holding onto. A lot of us however might feel guilty for taking these moments, however it’s important to realise that it is anything but selfish.
Whether you have kids, you’re looking after someone else, or you spend all day working from home by yourself – it’s important and necessary to look after your mind and body.
So, why is it important and why is Self Care definitely not selfish?
- Looking after yourself helps you look after others – By taking a moment for reflection and pause you can help calm your mind and look at problems or situations from a more objective place. This can help you change how you interact with the people in your life, how you speak with your family or friends and shift the conversation to a more positive tone.
- Inspire motivation and empowerment – Having reflection and some time to yourself can help you analyse and reflect on how you are dealing with situations. This can help you solve the problems in your life, or stem creative thinking to approach an issue from another angle.
- Self Care is physically good for you – self care is not just internal reflection or meditation, it’s also physical movement that makes you feel good. Whether that’s a walk outside, a dance class, or yoga – all physical movement (fast paced or slow) is great for your physical health.
- Reduces anxiety or pressure – Life is fast paced and in the modern world with 24/7 news, work, and family there can be a lot of pressure building up. Taking a moment for yourself can help reduce these feelings.
- You can learn more about yourself – internal reflection helps individuals to learn more about themselves. By taking a moment to analyse and reflect on actions, words spoken and interactions, you can learn about yourself and how you can change or keep moving forward with the things you are doing.
Self Care is important. The more individuals take a moment for themselves, the more they can help those around them.
If you want to begin with a some reflection but aren’t sure where to start this is a great resource to follow along – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpiw2hH-dlc
If you would like to know more about self care explore other resources we have produced in our self care series.
